Saturday, July 22, 2017

Happy Summer everyone! High temperature in NC today is predicted to be 100, so it's time to head to Canada, which I'll be doing in 5 days. Are any of you readers from the Maritime Provinces? You'll see my husband and I cruising by, enjoying the cool weather.

Two weeks ago, I attended a DPI institute taught by some folks at the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies. It was awesome, and if you have the time, please peruse their website. There is tons of information there and invaluable links---perfect if you teach children with complex communication needs.

I'm a fan of Tarheel Reader, and learned about one author (Reed A. Booke) who has put up some books which emphasize core vocabulary and simple repetitive vocabulary. One in particular, "Like, Not Like", was all about core, so I downloaded it and changed out some of the pictures, (more for copyright purposes), and changed one word,"this", to "it" so that all of the words in the book were on the core 36 board. You can download the original book from Tarheel Reader, or download my version (link is at the bottom of this post.) Here are other useful links:

No need for velcro with this book. I would just model the words on the core boards and teach the word location on the student's devices or overlays. Here are a few screen shots:

It's easy to figure out the plot of this book, and it centers around the familiar topic of food likes and dislikes. Once you finish it, you and your students should make a classroom book of foods specific kids like and dislike. Then you could work on choice making and rejecting.

Saturday, July 8, 2017

I've been relishing my time off! Nothing beats retirement! Except looking forward to a wonderful part time job working with some exceptional kids (see previous blog post).

Anyway, this past week, I've done some serious walking, and have come across a few delightful friends from the animal kingdom.

Two doors from our house is a beautiful piece of property where James Taylor grew up. These guys were hanging out in the James Taylor front field when I strolled by. (That property has 20 acres, mine has about 1--in case you were wondering.)

Saturday, July 1, 2017

What you may not know is that in addition to being a speech-language pathologist, I'm also a certified teacher of the hearing impaired. When a half-time position as a resource teacher for hearing impaired children popped up in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District, I decided to try for it, altering my plans from hanging out at home, to possibly re-entering the world of IEPs, paychecks, and adorable children.

This change in course meant writing a resume, filling out an application, lining up references, and interviewing for the first time in 25 years.

To make a long story short, I got the job. As a retiree, working half-time gives me the best of both worlds. The big perk for you is that I will now have more blog posts and new materials coming! Working with kids fuels my ideas.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Last month, I had the privilege of being part of the Lara Jane Parker Awards ceremony. As a previous recipient of this award, I introduced a new winner, and enjoyed the warmth and comeraderie of all the people involved with this fabulous foundation.

Here's a little background on New Voices. The mission of this group is to help children with severe communication and physical chappenges maximize their learning potential. The ultimate goal is inclusion in all aspects of life. New Voices seeks to do this through community awareness, training for professionals, family support, and increased access to assistive technology. I am personally honored to serve on the Board of Directors.

The Lara Jane Parker award was named after an outstanding young lady who graduated from UNC in spite of significant communication and mobility challenges. The award was established to provide both reward and recognition to those outstanding teachers, therapists, parents, education and health professionals and leaders who work daily to improved the lives of New Voices children. These individuals help improve their schools and their communities in ways that will allow these children to be fully included in all aspects of their daily lives. The recipients are local--Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Orange, and Wake Counties, along the with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

Lara Jane Parker award recipients

I was in awe of these award winners, three of whom are speech-language pathologists, and one a teacher of exceptional children. My Chapel Hill--Carrboro City School colleague, Kara Van Hooser, has been using creative, and cutting edge therapy techniques for years with her severely handicapped students. Another speech-language pathologist, Caitlin Burke, recently gave voice to a student who had not had a functional communication system for the first 14 years of his life. All four of these individuals are leaders in their field and constantly strive to perfect their skills, and improve the lives of their students. Congratulations!

If you want to find out more about New Voices, or would like to offer financial support to their mission, please visit their website.You can also follow New Voices on Facebook.From time to time, I'll be posting about projects and the children of New Voices. Stay tuned!.

Friday, May 12, 2017

Mother's Day is in two days, but let's not forget about Dad! His special day is outside of a typical school year, but if you are not in school then, celebrate early!

This is an interactive book to go with
Father’s Day. This book is meant for the more
linguistically challenged students and is perfect for speech/special ed collaboration. The
interactive book focuses on verbs associated commonly with fathers. These are
the same verbs that were in my Mother’s Day interactive book found in my store.
Clipart is by Smarty Symbols copyright 2017.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

I recently went to a workshop run by Karen Erickson. There is not enough space on this page to list all of her skills and accomplishments, but please look up her various projects here. The workshop was an awesome reminder why I like working with students with significant verbal challenges.

I like creating interactive books. These books are meant to not be for mere matching, but for shared reading. The interactive piece is nice for highlighting concepts, and keeping attention, but a core board should always accompany this so the adult can model comments. You can download samples of core vocabulary here.

Anyway, we just had an awesome rain shower last night in Chapel Hill, which reminded me that weather is a common topic in an elementary classroom. I created a free interactive book just for all of my internet friends struggling with finding materials with no instructional budget. Have fun!

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

If you ever want a beautiful site for a wedding, venture down to Hilton Head Island. We just had one! Yes, this is my lovely daughter, back from the Peace Corps (almost two years ago), now walking with her dad to marry the love of her life.

father and daughter

We are excited about a new son-in-law, and are excited for Andorra as she enters this new chapter.